The Mysterious Side Dish
by WaveMasterYami
Summary: Cilan realizes that there is more to his friend than what first meets the eye.  One-shot.


One-shot created because I am tired of noobie Ash, and I like Detective Cilan. This idea has probably already been done before. Numerous times. Now it's my turn. Funny, but I kept wanting to make Cilan burst out into French.

This takes place after _Battling For The Love of Bug Types!_

Bon appétit, mes chéris~

**Disclaimer:** I do own _Pokemon_ or any of its affiliates. All recognizable characters are not being used for profit.

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><p>Cilan first noticed it when he began to wonder how a low leveled pikachu could know Thunder.<p>

At first he dismissed the thought. It was entirely possible that Ash had used a TM25 on the electric mouse. With Pikachu's learning of Electro Ball, Cilan assumed it to be between the levels of twenty and thirty. It was a reasonable deduction, considering its distant relation, the emolga, learned the same move at around level twenty-six.

With Pikachu clearly much more powerful than Ash's other pokemon, it made sense to place it around level twenty-five. Ash was a fairly new trainer, but had probably trained with Pikachu a good while before meeting he and Iris.

Yet, there were little things that struck Cilan as strange. Ash made rookie mistakes, there was no doubt about that; however, he had a real knack for strategy, and already had an established battle style that quite suited his spicy personality. Several times, Cilan had considered the idea that Ash may simply be a budding genius. Witnessing his friend's hastiness always made him reconsider it.

Further observation revealed that, while unfamiliar with the Battle Club and its methods, Ash acted as though he were highly experienced in training pokemon. It was surprisingly subtle, coming from a boy who was as straightforward as a bouffalant. He easily transitioned from the correct manner in training his grass type, to knowing the right way to train his fire type.

The boy was a paradox. Reckless, but incredibly lucky. Clueless, yet strategic. Open and friendly, yet he rarely made any mention of his past. The longer Cilan traveled with Ash, the more he began to notice the odd aftertaste to his friend's actions.

It was all just very mysterious, though he knew that Ash was too honest to have intentionally made it so.

Finally, one day Cilan approached the boy.

"Excuse me, Ash? Could I borrow your pokedex?" he asked, as polite as ever.

Ash blinked at him, the befuddled expression on his face quite amusing. "Uh, sure. What for?" he replied, even as he reached into his pocket to slip out the device.

"Oh, just something I want to look up. It won't take too long," Cilan assured him.

"Okay," Ash shrugged, and went back to training his tepig.

So guileless. Feeling somewhat guilty that he was snooping, Cilan wondered how his friend could be so absolutely trusting. Though sometimes he couldn't quite tell if it really was trust, or simply an example of carelessness. Either way suited Ash quite neatly.

Now, just to make things clear: Cilan was _not_ actually snooping. Looking up the stats of his friend's pikachu was in no way sneaky or underhanded. He had no intention on using it against Ash. He was indulging his curiosity in a harmless manner.

Stepping a ways away, Cilan pointed the pokedex at Pikachu, who was napping in the sunshine while his trainer was busy with the rest of the team.

"_Pikachu, the electric mouse pokemon, and the evolved form of pi-"_

Skip.

As interesting as he was sure the entry was, that wasn't what he wanted. He fiddled with the buttons for a moment, before finally coming across the **STATS** option. _That_ was what he wanted. There was a long list of numbers that detailed Pikachu's attack and defense power, but there was only one number he wanted to see. Just to confirm his assumption.

**Subject's Approximate Power Level:**

Ah, yes, there it-

**74**

Cilan stared. And he stared. And he stared some more for good measure.

_Seventy-four?_ That wasn't possible. Had the pokedex experienced some sort of malfunction?

He proceeded to point the pokedex at his pansage, who peered up at him bemusedly.

"_Pansage, the grass monkey pokem-"_

Skip again.

Finding the **STATS** option at a much quicker pace this time, he scrolled down.

**Subject's Approximate Power Level:** **15**

That sounded about right. Looked like Pansage was about due to learn Leech Seed. What a lovely appetizer! Momentarily forgetting why he had looked up his pokemon's stats in the first place, he smiled down at Pansage. The little green creature happily returned the gesture, though he obviously had no idea why they were smiling at each other.

Regaining himself, Cilan gazed down at the pokedex, puzzled. It had shown the correct statistics for his pansage, but not for Pikachu? Perhaps it _hadn't_ been a mistake. Still, just to make sure…

He pointed the pokedex at Axew, who was sitting on Iris's shoulder as they watched Ash train.

"_Axew, the tu-"_

Just skip already!

**Subject's Approximate Power Level: 10**

…Yes, that also sounded about right.

So, then, if the pokedex was correct about Pikachu's power level…how had he gotten so strong? Had he always belonged to Ash? Had he been a gift?

Cilan had thought he would be answering questions, not finding new ones. The mysterious undertaste to Ash was growing stronger.

The connoisseur soon returned the pokedex to his friend, and determined to wait until they reached the next pokemon center to investigate the matter further. Cilan had always enjoyed solving a good mystery, and Ash was proving to be his most interesting case yet.

It took two more days before they reached the nearest center. The entire time, Cilan studied Ash, and the way he behaved while training. He especially kept an eye on Pikachu, who he now knew to be much more powerful than either pokemon or trainer had ever let on. Still, it made no sense to him. Say that Pikachu _was_ an overpowered gift from a friend or family member; why would it obey Ash? He wouldn't have been the one to train it, and most pokemon at that level did not take kindly to rookies trying to order them around when they felt that their true master lied elsewhere. Maybe it had once belonged to someone who had been especially close to Ash, and thus Pikachu had been familiar enough with him to be fine with being under his orders.

This option made more sense than the only other one Cilan could think of. If Ash _had_ been the one to bring Pikachu to this point, then why would he make so many blunders on the basics? To train a pokemon to such a high level was a large accomplishment, one that spoke of a well experienced trainer. Did Ash even have any other pokemon outside of the Unova region?

Thinking so deeply on the matter threatened to give him a migraine, but Cilan found it easy to act as he usually did. Upon finally reaching the pokemon center, he waited until night fell and his companions had gone off to do their own thing before asking Nurse Joy if he could borrow a computer. She was happy to help guide him to one, and Cilan was quick to type in "Ash Ketchum" into a search engine as soon as he registered online.

The most recent entry was about the Lily of the Valley Conference, a tournament that took place in Sinnoh.

_Hm, this wasn't too long ago…_

He looked over the top sixty-four trainers that had been registered in the Sinnoh League. Perhaps he should have been more surprised to find Ash's name among them, but somehow he wasn't. He pulled up Ash's profile, feeling increasingly impressed-and confused-as he was shown pictures of the pokemon his friend had used in the tournament. Staraptor, quilava, heracross, snorlax, noctowl, donphan, gible, gliscor, infernape, sceptile, swellow, torkoal, and, of course, he couldn't forget Pikachu.

_Wow, Ash, you got pretty far, didn't you?_ Cilan thought, pride for his friend rising as he realized Ash had been among the top four in the Sinnoh League. All of the pokemon registered looked powerful, and well trained. Of course, pictures wouldn't be able to tell him the nature of the relationships between Ash and his pokemon, but going by the bonds he already shared with his current team, Cilan didn't have to wonder too hard.

But the Sinnoh League hadn't been the only entry to pop up in his search.

_Let's see what else you've gotten yourself into._

Apparently, Ash had also participated in several other Leagues other the last four years. He was among the top sixteen in the Indigo Conference; the top eight in the Silver Conference; the top eight again in the Ever Grande Conference; and he had become the champion of both the Orange League, _and_ the Kanto Battle Frontier.

There were several other articles detailing some of Ash's other victories, and even more articles that mentioned him in passing. It was amazing how much this kid had gotten done in just under four years.

By the time Cilan pulled away from the computer two hours later, he could feel his head spinning from all the information he had stumbled across. The friend he had assumed to be a rookie was, in fact, a champion several times over, and had accomplished more than Cilan believed he ever would in a lifetime. It was amazing, it was unbelievable, it…still didn't make sense.

_**Why?**_ Why did his friend act like a rookie when he had so much experience under his belt? Who was the real Ash Ketchum? Had Cilan ever really even known Ash at all?

It was amazing that he was able to fall asleep with so many thoughts buzzing in his head, but eventually Cilan did, and he still woke up early enough to start breakfast for the others. When he left the kitchen to set the food on the table, he found everyone waiting for him, and he smiled brightly.

"Good morning, everyone!"

"Morning, Cilan!" both Iris and Ash greeted back.

As he drew closer, and smoothly set the plates onto the table, Iris gaze up at him worriedly.

"Are you all right, Cilan? You look like you got hardly any sleep at all last night!"

"Huh? Hey, you're right!" Ash exclaimed, leaning forward to get a better look at the developing bags under Cilan's eyes, and ignoring Iris's annoyed glance. "You okay?"

Touched by their concern, Cilan smiled a bit brighter. "Oh, I'm fine. I just stayed up a bit late going over an amazing new recipe I've just discovered! I thought I had already had the main course memorized, but then a mysterious new side dish was added, and things got very interesting then."

Both kids looked utterly bamboozled, but Ash was quick to latch onto the subject. "Is it tasty?" he asked eagerly.

Cilan thought on it for a moment. "It is certainly…uniquely delectable, with a surprisingly tangy undertaste!"

"Will we ever get to try it?" Iris asked, now looking just as eager.

"Haha, maybe someday!"

Breakfast proceeded along as usual, and Cilan watched Ash as they ate, trying to pin down any falsehoods in his companion's manner. However, the pokemon trainer was the same as always: cheerful, short-tempered, and stubborn, with a hint of youthful mischievousness underlying it all. Even after seeing the long list of articles highlighting Ash's accomplishments, Cilan was having some difficulty equating "champion Ash" with "rookie Ash."

"So, have you come up with a strategy for defeating the fourth gym yet?" Iris asked.

Ash would have folded his arms and started brooding over this if he hadn't still been eating. "Well, not really…"

Iris had her "you are _such_ a kid" look plastered on. It didn't amuse Cilan as much as it used to now. Ash wasn't familiar with Unova. Anyone in his situation would be making similar mistakes. Though that still didn't explain the basic blunders the teen had already made.

"I've heard the Nimbasa City Gym specializes in electric type pokemon," Cilan helpfully chimed in.

Ash paused to gaze off in the distance for a moment. Then a fierce, familiar determination shined in his eyes. Suddenly, it wasn't so difficult to equate this kid with the same one who had made the top four in the Sinnoh League.

"I'll figure something out," Ash said, that easy confidence that Cilan had always taken for the carelessness of youth now taking on a new flavor.

Then, just like that, Cilan decided that it really didn't matter who Ash was. Champion or no, he was just _Ash_, the goofy, stubborn kid that he had decided to travel with. What did it matter that he had participated in other Leagues, and had failed to mention it? Who cared that he was making rookie mistakes while his pikachu was a good fifty to sixty levels higher than the rest of his party? He was in Unova now, with a fresh start. If he wanted to tell Cilan and Iris about his past accomplishments, he would. He was a good kid, a good _friend_, and Cilan couldn't imagine traveling with anyone else right now.

So long as he could continue traveling with his friends, discovering new relationships, and exploring the world with them, then he was fine with knowing that they were keeping secrets. After all, he still had a few surprises up his sleeves himself.

_I look forward to seeing what delightful entrée you'll come up with next, Ash._


End file.
